The G.E.M. Series EP17: Driven By Passion With Nate Chen
[00:00:00] Blake: Welcome to the GEM series powered by rocket level. On this podcast, we empower entrepreneurs to succeed by setting big goals, executing like a pro, and having a fearless mindset. The GEM series is all about investing in yourself. We're here to share the path to getting what you want out of life. By 
[00:00:19] sharing the stories of entrepreneurs who have.
[00:00:21] Themselves providing thorough research from our team on what careers and habits are yielding the best results and discussing the mindset it takes to overcome the obstacles that all future entrepreneurs will face investing in yourself, starts with putting in the work every single day. And this podcast is here to help you do exactly that.
[00:00:39] My name is Blake Chapman. I'm the vice president of the ambassador program here at the rocket level. And I am thrilled to be your host for the GEM Series.
[00:00:49] Hello everybody. And welcome to the GEM series today. I am absolutely thrilled to have Nate Chen on the podcast professional racer and also in private equity. Pretty amazing. I, I, I dunno how you find the time to balance and do everything that you've been doing, man, but I was totally fascinated when I heard about your story.
[00:01:07] And another special surprise. We're actually at the Jerry Yang racing compound where Jerry. Literally builds race cars. Pretty amazing. I mean, I know as a kid, I always had hot wheels and things like that. It's, crazy to see that taken to the furthest extent to where you have a whole place dedicated just to churning out these amazing machines.
[00:01:28] So Nate, how you doing, man? I'm good to have 
[00:01:30] Nate: you on. Great. Yeah, Blake. Thanks for having me. It's really great to be at the Jerry Yang racing compound. I mean, this is always really fun to just walk through and see all the projects that you can probably see in the background. And absolutely it's always, there's always something to be.
[00:01:41] You know, worked on and stuff to do so. Yeah. But thank you and appreciate it. And to answer your question, how do I find the time? Well, I just don't sleep. that's, that's the truth of it. You know, I need like six hours of sleep. That's good enough for me. Six, six, and a half. And anything less than that, I'm a little bit cranky, but yeah.
[00:01:58] I mean, it's, I, I love both worlds that I'm a part of and it's been a wild ride. It's 
[00:02:04] Blake: pretty amazing. I'm sure people on both ends that you meet working in those places are. Dude. How do you do that, man? That's it is no sleep though. You just gotta go for it. I bet. Yeah, 
[00:02:12] Nate: exactly. Yeah. I mean, look, my daily schedule is, you know, wake up at 8, 8 30 and then, you know, I'm working on my private equity world, I guess from, you know, 8 45 to roughly, I don't know, 6, 7, 8, like there's no set schedule.
[00:02:26] And that's what I like. I don't like having a set schedule. I like to have variability every day and then after that's done. Go work out then I'm working on my racing program until 12 1 2 in the morning. So, so yeah, what's 
[00:02:40] Blake: a racing 
[00:02:40] Nate: a program for anybody that doesn't know yeah. I mean, so the funny thing is like, you would you'd think like, oh, you're just racing, car driver.
[00:02:46] Like, that's all you do, but there's so much more that goes into it. And racing's like the fun part. I mean, that's like 10% of my time on the weekends, like, yes, I'm going out and driving every single weekend. Whether it's this car. That you see right next to you or my 
[00:02:58] Blake: practice car, by the way, this so freaking 
[00:03:00] Nate: cool.
[00:03:01] It, it is. Yeah. It's like a childhood dream realized for sure. But you know, I'm out in my practice car, and then the real work though is the business aspect. Yeah. So, you know, it's building sponsor relationships. It's, you know, doing social media stuff. It's getting logistics done for the team. It's coordinating with a bunch of different people.
[00:03:17] I have a team. At the track with me, six people including myself. And so I have a videographer photographer, two mechanics, Jerry's my crew, chief, a spotter. And then my parents actually show up to the track and help out with food and, and stuff 
[00:03:31] Blake: like that. That's so cool. Yeah. 
[00:03:33] Nate: Dang. You have a lot of support behind you.
[00:03:35] No, you absolutely have to at this level. Yeah. In order to. To be able to drive. I mean, again, the driving's like the easiest part, then half the battle is just getting the car there. Yeah. And just making sure everything works. And then as long as everything works as I can usually deliver on, the driving part.
[00:03:48] Right. 
[00:03:49] Blake: So man, so have you always had this vision of getting to yeah. Do what you're doing now? 
[00:03:54] Nate: No, it's funny. I mean, yeah. It started out as literally that when I was 13, I went to my first formula drift. As a kid, but I looked around and I'd wanted to be some sort of race car driver of some sort since I was a really little kid.
[00:04:06] But when you looked at NASCAR formula one, it was really hard to get into if you didn't come from, you know, a significant background of wealth. Right. And so, but FD at the time, like it was like, wow, I can see myself. There. And so then it was, how do I work backwards and figure out a path that can put me there.
[00:04:24] And so it started with, well, I see the media people have like the best spot on the track. They're the closest to the track. It looks really cool. And I wanted to be more than a spectator and that's just kind of me in general. I don't want to just watch something. I wanna participate in some shape or form.
[00:04:38] Yeah. But I was 14 at the time. And so I didn't, you know, I wasn't gonna buy a car and drive myself. So. Picked up a video camera and just went out there, started filming local events pretty quickly within a year was shooting professional events and then formula drift for a few teams, which funny enough, I think I'm the only media person to go from media to the driver.
[00:04:58] Yeah. And so where did that, where did 
[00:04:59] Blake: that drive come from? Cuz I guess. I'm sure you hear it all the time. You have friends or family members, or just even in passing, you probably hear people go, well, I can't do that. I mean, I'm not like I'm not rich. It takes a lot of money to be able to do something like that.
[00:05:13] Or I, you know, I, and they just sit and, and watch their dreams from far away. Like what made you get creative and. I 
[00:05:20] Nate: don't know, make that happen. It's pretty cool. Pretty stubborn. that's awesome. That's awesome. In terms of just, you know, Hey, it's like I had this vision, it always starts with the vision it's like, and it's not just racing it's whether that's going into private equity mm-hmm, which began with investment banking and then you know, I wanted to learn how to be a DJ.
[00:05:37] So I did that. A videographer did that, but it, so it starts with that, the vision, and the overall end. And then how do you work backward and try to eliminate. The overwhelming feeling of, Hey, there's like 20,000 things. It's just like, okay, well I wanna be a race car driver, but I can be a media videographer first.
[00:05:55] Let me just focus on that. And I'll eventually get to the right path and I've, I haven't like it hasn't been this grand. It has been like a 10-year plan. That's actually worked out funny enough. That's great. But it, it hasn't been super clear. There's just been kind of a general guideline that I knew this is kind of the direction that I wanted to go in, but it wasn't like I had all the details and then just kind of the details have kind of come in front of me.
[00:06:18] So it's like, okay. Videographer to the driver, but then it's like, well, I really need this budget. Like, how am I gonna come up with that? Mm-hmm, what are the two highest paying jobs that I can get out of undergrad? I went to the college of William and Mary, and it was either finance or Silicon valley. And for me personally, I gravitated more towards finance, but then that had its own path of like, how do I get into that?
[00:06:38] And then it was just working at it, work at it, work at it. I cold-called 50 to 75 alumni to try to get an internship on wall street, which yeah. Happened. And then I converted that to a full-time offer from another investment bank in New York. And then I started my career there. So yeah, I mean, all this stuff is just kind of.
[00:06:57] Culminated in, in the car that you see 
[00:06:59] Blake: next to you? Yeah. I just love that. There are so many instances that you've pointed out where you've been like, Hey, I see an obstacle and I'm gonna do the thing that is to some people may be unthinkable, to be able to, to, to get to the next level. Even just cold calling colleagues, like, you know, people don't do that.
[00:07:16] So growing up were, did your parents ever reinforce that kind of mindset in you or, you know, it was somebody there that 
[00:07:23] Nate: inspired. So, you know, my parents have always been super supportive of all of my endeavors, whether, you know, basically just encouraging me to pursue what I want to. Sure.
[00:07:31] Although at the same time, like they've told me at, at some point I remember my dad saying, well, you didn't go to Harvard or Yale, so wall Street's outta the picture. But then I realized, well, that's actually not true. And so sometimes you just have to tell yourself, Hey, I believe in this vision, this is the right path.
[00:07:46] And to trust your gut. Yeah. And. Keep on executing and eventually, you're gonna get to where you want to get to. But in terms of inspiration, I love to draw inspiration from a bunch of different people in a bunch of different industries. And it's like, that's kind of the thing that I've figured out. It's like, you don't wanna reinvent the wheel.
[00:08:03] You just wanna add another spoke. Nice. Do you know what I mean? That's a good way to put it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because if I can take, like, I look like Tony Hawk, for instance, mm-hmm childhood idol skateboarder. I was a skateboarder at one point in my life. Same here. Yeah. I love skating too. Oh, that's awesome.
[00:08:17] Yeah. Yeah. So with him, he's just been a fantastic ambassador for skateboarding mm-hmm and it's like, how do I. Take that image kind of shape it into my own and apply it to drifting because drifting is kind of behind skateboarding, you know, in terms of a number of people involved mm-hmm et cetera, et cetera.
[00:08:35] Sure, sure. But skateboarding, at one point, wasn't this big X games and, you know, ESPN thing, it was very underground. I mean, Tony talks about how he almost went bankrupt trying to start a skateboard company in the nineties, but he just held on. Yeah. Yeah. And then he got on ESPN and then wow. Like things.
[00:08:51] Took off for 'em. So but yeah, it's drawing inspiration from a bunch of different people, lot, lots of different mentors and lots of different areas, whether that's private equity racing or DJing like there's something that you can learn from everybody and how you take that and package it together and reshape it to whatever you're doing is, is really like what I like to do.
[00:09:11] That's 
[00:09:12] Blake: very cool. So I'm like, what's your 900 then, you know, when Tony Hawk hit the 900, I remember that back in the day, whenever he. Finally did things that, that have never been done before, but no, I, I, I love that, that mindset. I think that's super, super cool too, to look at, look at other people that have taken a really great and different path against certain odds and figure, how do I shape something like that for myself?
[00:09:35] There's a lot you can learn from for sure. So what's been kind of the scary parts along the way. You know, I would imagine, I don't know. Maybe there's none, but I, I I've always run into, there's usually a little something going on where you're like, man, what if. It doesn't work out the way I want it to, how do you 
[00:09:49] Nate: power through some of that stuff?
[00:09:51] Yeah, it's funny. I mean, this applies directly to racing, right? It's like, man, like what if I don't drive as hard as I need to in order to win. And honestly, you just have to shut that out. Mm-hmm yeah. Like there was an instance back when I was in my ProAm days. So before I, I turned pro and it was a difficult track and I basically had to commit full throttle before the entry, which meant if I messed up, I was gonna go into the wall mm-hmm but if I didn't commit, then I would.
[00:10:18] Sent down into the bank and basically, it was, Hey, look, you either do this or just pack it up and go home. Yeah. One of those two. And so you can't be afraid to fail because it happens there have definitely been times where I failed either as a business owner in terms of understanding team dynamics or even in racing like that happens all the time.
[00:10:37] Yeah. Don't you don't win every race? No, that's who you're. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's how you get back up again and then fight and continue to fight and be willing to. You know, accept defeat sometimes, but then move past it, accept it, and figure out what went wrong. And then. Course correct for future problems.
[00:10:55] Yeah. 
[00:10:55] Blake: You know, something that I always end up talking about with my team is how I've learned to kinda love failure in away, you know, cause I mean, if you're not failing, you're probably not finding your threshold, you know, you're the extent of your threshold. Do you ever find that that's kind of the case of, you know, you find where you your tap out point is where you're like, oh my gosh, I cannot go faster than this.
[00:11:15] How am I gonna beat that? 
[00:11:17] Nate: Yeah, no, totally. I mean, you know, In terms of like failure. Like if it was really easy, if I won every single race that I went to, or if my day job, if private equity was super easy, then everybody would do it and it would be really boring. Yeah. So honestly, I love the challenge, like the challenge of all the stuff that goes into putting on a professional racing, you know, team, once you.
[00:11:40] Have that object of success, whether that's winning a race or getting a new sponsorship or yeah. Or whatever, and then not only getting that but then really delivering value for your partners. that's an amazing feeling. That 
[00:11:51] Blake: absolutely is an amazing feeling. I can imagine just like the thrill of mixing adrenaline and then also, like, I don't know, just seeing yourself get better and better and better.
[00:12:02] I mean, anytime you're in a position to get 1% better every day, I feel like that's just, that's, that's an equation for a life well lived, you know? And I think that's super cool. So in terms of goals, I guess, did you ever have like a very concrete goal? That was your first one where you're like, you know what, I'm on a mission.
[00:12:19] This is my, this is my 
[00:12:20] Nate: target. Yeah. I mean, going back to, you know, childhood days, it was, I wanna learn everything about star wars. that's amazing. Do you know what I mean? All right. So, so I was like, I was a big fan of Bobba fed and read like the Mandalorian, like background story before the show. Yeah. Came out, you know, like the original Mandalorian stuff and.
[00:12:39] It just, I don't know. Again, I think I have this obsessive trait where if there's something that I'm really interested in, I just can't shut it off. 
[00:12:45] Blake: That's I'm exactly that way too, man. It's funny. It's like anything that's novel. I'll just obsessively go into it for a long time. Yeah. So do you have 
[00:12:54] random 
[00:12:54] Nate: stuff that enters oh yeah, no, totally.
[00:12:56] You know, like, I mean the New York mafia, like watching tons of documentaries. So I lived in Manhattan for years. R IP, poly walnuts span. I know, right. It just happened. Yeah. A few days ago. Yeah. You lived in Manhattan though. I did. So I lived on 63rd and second, my first year, which is the upper east side. And then 43rd, between first and second, which is the city.
[00:13:16] Yeah. And on my way to work every day, I could, if I wanted to, I could take a path that brought me right. Past spark steakhouse where Paul Castano got shot. So yeah, it's just like really cool to see history in person, I don't know, huge like 20th-century history nerd, happy to admit that. And. So, I don't know something stupid like that, where I just like Wikipedia, just like, for my own knowledge, I'm just like curious to hear the story and just, you know, the dialogue and good fells.
[00:13:42] I actually just re-watched it again last night. Really? Yeah. Cause I was on Netflix and I was like, it's such a classic man. I've seen it hundred times. Yeah. But it's, it's great. So I don't know. There are just all types of stuff. It's not just like the big things, like the racing, the private equity career.
[00:13:54] It's just the small things too. That just, I find something interesting. I just genuinely have. Yeah. Curiosity about learning more. Yeah, that's 
[00:14:02] Blake: really cool. I mean, I feel, I feel like staying curious is kind of a key component too, cuz yeah, I, I can't tell you how many times I've heard somebody who just like wants more, but they're not.
[00:14:16] Even looking for it, you know, they're not looking for any, any kind of an answer to, to whatever their problem is or anything like that. So I feel like curiosity is, sh a key component sometimes. So for me, I, another thing I was kind of curious about looking into you and, and all that, I'm like.
[00:14:32] Dude. Do you ever, do you ever have a time where you want to give up? Like have you ever, have you ever run into 
[00:14:36] Nate: something like that before? No. I mean burnout that's real. Yeah. I mean, it is not just on the tires. Yeah. oh, man. That's a great one. 
[00:14:47] Blake: you probably you're like, you probably heard it a hundred times.
[00:14:49] Nate: Yeah, no. Yeah. Burnouts are real and they're really fun to do, but yeah, the other part of burnout is not fun. I mean, you know, I can remember the first time. I burned out from my investment banking career, which previous life, but I had been working, you know, 9:00 AM to 12 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6:00 AM. Yeah.
[00:15:08] Seven days a week. And after, you know, a month or two of that, like I just couldn't pick my head up off the table. Yeah. Like even, you know, it was just, it was really rough and. That it wasn't so much of a choice that I had. It was just, this is like what I have to do as part of my job and role, but totally, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel is just, Hey, like life's gonna get better.
[00:15:28] And especially going into the wall street career, like, you know, you're gonna be working seven days a week, a hundred hours and it's gonna be crazy. And it's. Gonna be really rough at points, but then it's honestly set me on a path that I would not have been able to do this without the funding that I I've made from investment banking and then private equity and, you know, have So, you know, that's, that's tough, like in terms of burning out and whatever, but you can always kind of step back a little bit and you know, exercise that helps a lot.
[00:15:57] Mm-hmm sometimes just going, like something I did in New York is I would go by myself to the movie theaters on Sundays and just like watching. That's awesome. Yeah. That's awesome. Because it forced me to not look at my phone for a couple of hours. Yeah. And just to escape. Right. That's such a good idea.
[00:16:11] Blake: Yeah. Plus like mental resiliency, I think comes from all of that probably too. 
[00:16:14] Nate: Yeah, exactly. But yeah. Anyway, just finding things and outlets and ways to release kind of like that stress yeah. Is super important. And if you can't do that it's really, really hard to just keep going because. as much as I like, you know, in this machine that never sleeps or whatever, I definitely do need breaks.
[00:16:33] so, 
[00:16:33] Blake: Hey, even a machine has to have its oil change. you know, there you go. Hey, no, that's exactly. That's I mean, I think that's so important for everybody to realize too is cuz I mean the stakes are, it depends on how you look at things. Like if you're burning out, then the stakes of you quitting are just that you you're like, oh, I give up.
[00:16:48] But the stakes of you taking a breath. I mean, that's fair, that's far lower than just giving up on your dream or, you know, something like that. So I, yeah. I don't know. 
[00:16:56] Nate: Yeah, no, I mean, but to your point, like, you know, sometimes whether that's like a, a, you know, a boss telling you a deadline is absolutely tomorrow.
[00:17:04] I mean, there are ways to push back on it and say, Hey, maybe it needs, maybe it's tomorrow afternoon. Maybe it's not tomorrow morning. Maybe I can sleep a little and then I'll feel so much better. Yeah. And, you know, mental health is really critical, especially in performing on, on racing. Mm-hmm mindset has to be there.
[00:17:21] You have to have all the confidence in order to drive this 800-horsepower machine, right? Yeah. And if you don't, if you're not in the right mindset, you're just gonna lose every single time. Yeah, 
[00:17:30] Blake: absolutely. No, I mean, I think that's a really, really great way to put it. Yeah. I mean, something I always wonder too, is at the end of the day, I'm like what motivates somebody more, a win, a win or a loss.
[00:17:41] So I guess yours is funny because I get, I'm like lucky to get to talk to somebody that literally. Has a metric of like winning and losing, you know, in a, in a pretty literal sense, I guess. Like what do you think drives you more like after a race? 
[00:17:55] Nate: You know? Yeah. You know, I mean, I think what ends up driving me is just to achieve that vision that I've had in my head and that can, you know, apply to anything that I've, I've done in my life, whether that's DJing or videography like there's a, there's a specific.
[00:18:12] Picture I have of like, yeah. Standing on the podium or DJing in front of a crowd or, or whatever. And then when I'm in that moment, like, that's awesome. Yeah. But the funny thing is, as soon as that's over, I'm like, all right, well, like let's, let's back to it. Let's let's yeah. Let's do let's win another race or like, let's do another big DJ event or, you know, let's.
[00:18:29] Close another deal in private equity. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like, let's build more businesses. There's never like a thing of complacency with me. It's always, Hey, okay. That's awesome. Like I achieve this. What's the next thing. Yeah. 
[00:18:42] Blake: Yeah. You know, I was listening to this neuroscientist talk a little bit about how we pursue joy and how we find that just literally chemically.
[00:18:50] And he was like, it's actually not achievements. It's the journey that we go on, to get to those achievements. To have that validated by a neuroscientist. I was like, man, it's real, you know like you gotta, you can't, you can't get complacent. You know, I mean, at the end of the day, like if, if you just achieve something and they are like, all right, I'm chilling now.
[00:19:10] Nate: You gotta keep, because you're gonna fall behind on the next thing, right? Yeah, exactly. You at the same time, like you, should definitely take time and, you know, pat yourself back for doing whatever. And maybe I'm not that great at doing that sometimes. But you know, it's important to recognize achievements and stuff, but then again, it's kind of, Hey, alright, well, cool.
[00:19:28] Let's do this again. Or let's do this bigger. Yeah. And for me, it's usually let's do this bigger. Yeah. What do I mean? So absolutely. 
[00:19:34] Blake: What's a so I know there are high stakes in really every aspect of what you're, what you're doing. What's like a high stake scenario that you've been in recently with private equity where you're like, oh my gosh.
[00:19:43] You're like, that was a, I, I I'd love to hear a story if you've got one about 
[00:19:47] Nate: that too. Yeah. I mean, you know, negotiating deals can get very tense sometimes. Yeah. And I, I'm actually helping out a, a friend of mine raising some equity. And basically, you know, the buyer came in and was. Offered a really not-market deal.
[00:20:04] And it wasn't really fair terms. Yeah. But you know, I do this every day, right. Yeah. So I kind of know what's fair. What's not fair. What's reasonable. What's not reasonable. And there was just some like high tension of, you know, I, I called them out on it and they didn't respond very well. Right. And it's like, wow, kind of a little taken aback.
[00:20:20] Cause they look at me, you know, I look like I'm 15 and have all this like M and knowledge and you know, it's. So in terms of, yeah. Tension, like that, was definitely there, but again, you just kind of rely on the facts, especially when you're negotiating deals and it's like, let's try to put all emotions aside and just, Hey, like, this is what, you know, my friend needs in order to be secure.
[00:20:42] Like that's what it comes down to. It's not really about the money. It's more about, Hey, how does he set himself up? How does he set his family up for success? If something happens to him, if whatever, and. You know, that kind of resonates really well. And it's like, Hey, we're not trying to like nickel and dime you.
[00:20:58] We're just trying to do what's right by my friend, you know? Yeah. It's, 
[00:21:01] Blake: it's explaining what it's rooted in. Yeah. You know, like this is, I, you know that's the thing. I think sometimes we forget our basic needs of being like, Hey, at the basic level, This is what I need to be able to make something happen, because if I don't do this, then I'm at risk of, you know, never not being able to pay my bills or not being able to enter into something that's safe for my business.
[00:21:22] And then you just state what your needs are. . I mean, it's funny that we forget to express what, what our, what our you know, what our, our reasoning is behind it. Other than just being like, these are just numbers, 
[00:21:31] Nate: you know? Yeah. And luckily, you know, in the private equity world, I think people are generally receptive to just, you know, very logic-based arguments.
[00:21:39] Yeah. There's always a middle ground. Like no one leaves at the negotiating table happy or angry. Mm-hmm ideally right. You try to find a common ground and just move through problems because on the other side. Just the transactional part. I mean, the whole purpose of private equity is to improve businesses.
[00:21:54] And I work for a firm, IMB partners that focus on building businesses. Yeah. Right. And especially in the, so in the lower middle market, we focus on utility services companies as well as GovCon mm-hmm and we're not. The evil, private equity firm from New York that fires everybody. Like, yeah, you can make money that way, but it's not an enjoyable path.
[00:22:12] Sure. Every, no one's happy. I mean, not the private equity guys. Who's doing that. Like they're not really happy and neither, obviously, the company's not happy. The people that are losing their no, that's terrible. And I like building businesses, working on a bunch of different companies where, you know, we've added capabilities and people and gotten the.
[00:22:30] You know, executive team to really go and build a platform. Yeah. And that's worked out really well because a lot of these times like there are founders that deep down, they just want to be a billable employee too. Know the federal government, right? Mm-hmm and this whole running the business thing is like really not for them.
[00:22:50] And so when we can bring in somebody that has run a lot of these smaller businesses, converted them to medium or large size businesses. It alleviates the founder's need for, Hey, I just wanna work for the government. Like I don't wanna ruin my business. Like this HR stuff, this finance stuff. This is like annoying.
[00:23:07] So mean it's a lot. Yeah, it is. It's a lot. It is. But again, it's all about people. Mm-hmm but also business would be a lot easier without people. 
[00:23:17] Blake: Yeah, it would, it would, but it's like. We're here and we're, we're doing this thing for some reason, you know? Exactly. No, that's amazing though. I think that would be really, really cool to see you know, probably the relief.
[00:23:28] Some leaders might feel whenever you are able to come in and, and give them an opportunity to continue growing their business and yeah. Give them a game 
[00:23:35] Nate: plan. Yeah, no, they like, there was this woman, her name was Karen Trobridge and it was a deal I did at my previous firm where, you know, we acquired her business and we acquire.
[00:23:44] Two or three other companies. Yeah. And then, you know, sitting in the board meeting, she was really taken aback cuz she, she had kind of shed, wanted to take a step back, kind of focus on her family and we helped, you know, input a management team and, and then she was really surprised. She was like, wow. I remember when we were only like this big doing only these contracts and now we're like triple the size.
[00:24:03] This is crazy. And it's so it's really cool. And it's a great, yeah, it's a great way for both parties to win. Not just, you know, not just us. And every deal that IMB does, we always focus on seller rollover, meaning the original founders retain, you know, 20 to 30% of their ownership stake because we view it more as like a, Hey, this is a handshake.
[00:24:23] You're definitely, we're definitely recognizing the value of what you've done today, but we wanna really focus on what we're doing tomorrow. 
[00:24:29] Blake: Yeah, no, that's I think that's, that's pretty incredible to be able to offer that kind of relief to somebody and also just give, yeah, again, the bigger vision. I, I was a little curious though.
[00:24:39] Have you watched succession success? 
[00:24:41] Nate: I think I've like watched an episode or two. Yeah, 
[00:24:43] Blake: it's funny. I was just wondering, I was like I, I, I feel like they paint there arere's always these like overdramatic. Yeah. Pictures of personal AC 
[00:24:51] Nate: or, you know yeah. Private equity stuff. Yeah. The finance world.
[00:24:53] No, I definitely when I was in college trying to learn about how this world worked, I was watching, you know, the 1987 Martin Scorsese film wall street. Oh yeah. And I was like, oh yeah, like, this is what I'm doing. And, you know, guess I was trying to like, Trying to, I guess, bold myself into what I thought was like the right thing to do, or, you know, but it's Hollywood, it's, it's a great entertainment piece.
[00:25:14] Yeah. But it's not reality. And you know, the only way that I've been able to just adapt is just by being in this world for six years now. Yeah. Betwinvestingvest my investment in banking job, my two private equity careers and. It's been really cool because, at this point in my career, I'm transitioning from just being the junior guy.
[00:25:30] That's doing the diligence questions, running the financial models to sourcing my own deals in the GovCon space because that's where I have a lot of expertise. Yes. It's really just a nuanced and tricky space. It's not particularly hard to learn. It's not like I'm trying to understand big pharma. Bunch of crazy drug names.
[00:25:47] Yeah. That ha you can't understand unless you're Ph.D. Yeah. But there's all these like, weird, like kind of, you know, nuances and rules and, and stuff like that. That I've only been able to learn just by being in this industry for, you know, three or four years now. Yeah. And it's tremendously valuable because there aren't very many people that know this.
[00:26:06] And so. It's just been a way to differentiate myself again, being a typical junior person. Who's great the at execution of just the typical deal process to being kind of, a thought leader within my firm of, Hey, this is like kind of what's going on in the government services market. Here's where I think we can play to our advantage.
[00:26:24] Like for instance, you know, no secret, we have two main, large adversaries in the world, right? Mm-hmm so, but we're not on a big. World II-style tyle battlefield. So while the most important piece it's intelligence, right? Sure. Because, and as budgets are classified, it's a really unique space. Really interesting, fascinating.
[00:26:44] But, you know, that's kind of like the way that's like the way to go in terms of investing, because that's a super valuable piece. We have to stay ahead of our adversary and. The work that the federal government is doing it, it's just imind-blowingwing. I 
[00:27:00] Blake: can, I can imagine. I mean, and I can see how you would be a total asset to them knowing some of that stuff that, you know, nobody else is really there's or there's not a lot of people anyways, that are diving into that world.
[00:27:11] That's pretty cool. Was there something that kept pushing you making you more curious to go down that road versus. Something more generalized that 
[00:27:17] Nate: other folks might do. So, yeah. I mean, I, you know, funny thing, well, I guess the, my switch from St investment banking, which was sell side M and a, so basically I helped sell businesses.
[00:27:27] Mm-hmm on, you know, on behalf of owners or yeah. Their re public companies on shareholders. And then the first private equity job I got was for a firm that specialized in defense and government services. So we only focused on that sector and, you know, early, I guess be, you know, going in from college to.
[00:27:45] My first job outta school, it was, Hey, you wanna be a generalist? You wanna like get exposure to a bunch of different industries. And, you know, I did that, but then I've realized, Hey, if you specialize in something, that's, that's a way to  tolike stand out and actually make you like focus and the government services world.
[00:28:01] It's just, again, it's just interesting. You just pick up on, you know, pick up on like a few things a day, right? Yeah. But when a few things a day turns into four years, you're like, wow. I like didn't even realize like, nobody else knows this cuz it's just, it's second nature, man. 
[00:28:15] Blake: That's that's, that's pretty cool.
[00:28:16] Getting to, getting to dive into something like that and, and having so many people be, I, I dunno, it just makes you a standout, you know? And that's, that's something that I think a lot of people don't necessarily do because the rules are written and it's hard sometimes when you're the one who's probably having.
[00:28:32] Yeah. Figure out stuff on 
[00:28:33] Nate: your own, you know? Well, yeah. And that's the thing, I mean, it's like, as long as you're able to understand, like the rules are definitely, like, there are a bunch of rules in government contract. Sure. But it's like, they're not all written in one place. And so if you can understand that and you know, again, the firm that I've worked with IMB partners is, is such an entrepreneurial firm.
[00:28:49] We're really small. We only have 10, 12 people total. Yeah. And they've given me the leeway that definitely other big firms would not have to go out and Hey, I'm gonna go out to this conference, I'm gonna go meet with this person. I try to have like there's, you know, interaction, goals and stuff, kind of like a BD mm-hmm role in terms of there there's certain metrics that I'm trying to hit, but it's also really cool to see where those relationships go.
[00:29:12] So I've been working with an advisor that I worked at, my previous firm brought, introduced him to our firm and, and now we're on the path to working together going forward. So like that's cool. Cool to see cuz a few months ago we just happened to bump into each other at at a GovCon. You know what I mean?
[00:29:26] Yeah. So but again, yeah. IMB partners and Torres Richardson, who's the founder. It's just a great family office, right? Like they're, we invest our own founders capital as wella  as network of family offices. And again, super founder friendly. And we wanna partner with people and that's, you know, that's.
[00:29:43] The most important part when you're doing business with somebody is you have to be able to see eye to eye or resolve conflict. And cuz there's always gonna be conflict. Yeah. That's like human nature. Right. But in order to work with people and move on and build something better, like that's 
[00:29:57] Blake: yeah. The focus.
[00:29:58] So is there a difference between personal equity Nate? And race car driving. Nate is, do you 
[00:30:03] Nate: notice any, or do have you private equity, Nate and, and race car driver, Nate? Yeah. yeah. I mean like, look, I'll admit, like, you know hopefully I've been, you know, you can tell like super friendly when talking and stuff like that.
[00:30:15] Oh, no, you're no, you're incredible. Soon as that helmet goes on, no, I'm, I'm out to kill you. I love that, man. I love that. Yeah. Like, it's just, it's so funny to get in that head space of, of racing because you just get angry, you know? Yeah. You just gotta get mad. You gotta want it. You gotta wanna win. And you know, you don't have.
[00:30:35] You know, you know, nuance or negotiate anything? No, there, there is no negotiated in racing. It's let's try to beat the other guy. Yeah. You know what I mean? My car is 
[00:30:44] getting 
[00:30:44] Blake: the fuck in front of your car. You better believe it. Like, no, exactly. 
[00:30:48] Nate: Like I'm gonna like, make you look bad. That's like my job, like I'm gonna get right on your door and I'm gonna stay there and then I'm gonna ditch you on my, on my lead run.
[00:30:56] So, man. Yeah. It's, it's funny. 
[00:30:59] Blake: Well, you gotta have killer instincts 
[00:31:00] Nate: in those moments, you know as you do. And like, you know, there's no, no secret and type a personality, but every race car driver has to have one mm-hmm because you know, we're out here to win. Yeah. I mean, no one, no one's saying, oh, I show up to the race to, you know, finish Last no, right.
[00:31:16] Blake: Yeah. I do see some parallels of, you know, I feel like what you're doing at private equity is also extreme results-orientated, you know? And so, you know, you've got all these places where it's like heavily deter, like your, your results a are a direct indication of how well you're doing. Yeah. Is that, is that tricky to navigate sometimes?
[00:31:33] Or are you like, have you just always been. Big sports guy and things like 
[00:31:37] Nate: that growing up, or I've definitely been, been competitive my entire life. So I, I think I mentioned I skateboarded but it, so it wasn't just kind of skateboard for fun. It was, you know, skateboard, competitively, really? Yeah. Like why'd win like local contests, nothing?
[00:31:49] That's so cool. Nothing crazy. It was not crazy. Where did you grow up at? NNA, Virginia, so right outside DC. Okay. Awesome. Awesome. So there were sike local shop contests that I enter and. It was a yielded advantage because I would go to this one skate park every single day. YeahJoto for like to practice my routine over and over and over again.
[00:32:05] So when it came down to, you know, you have 45 seconds or a minute to do a run and nail, every single trick wouldn't fall and it would just flow like that. Yeah. Just like one trick after another. And so yeah, that competitive mindset. Has always been there. And then on the, a little bit more of a nerdy side, I was a life-smart state champion in my senior r of, of high school.
[00:32:27] And so what life smart were was, it was basically like a trivia quiz bowl type cool thing. Yeah. And it was really cool because I ended up getting to go to LA for free, which I and missed school, which, you know, as a senior in high school, you can't, can't beat that hell. No. Yeah. That's awesome. And but it's, you know, again, just like being able to answer the question before the other team or whatever mm-hmm it was a really fun experience.
[00:32:48] And I actually got to volunteer at their national conference a few months ago because it was held in Arlington and it's really close to where I live and it was kind of a fun trip down memory lane. Like I don't get, yeah, I don't have time to. Give a ton of my time to, to stuff, but it was like, I really wanted to do that.
[00:33:05] And so I had to come back and be, you know, like a judge or an official type person and do a few of those. It was so funny, but it was so long ago, I don't remember like didn't remember exactly the process and, and stuff like that, but it was just really fun and definitely sparked some nostalgia and 
[00:33:20] Blake: yeah.
[00:33:20] Yeah. That's so much fun. And that's cool to like, yeah. Get to reconnect with your roots a little bit. Do you cruise around still on your skateboard at all? Every 
[00:33:27] Nate: once in a while, but I also don't wanna get. For I was about to say, that'd be risky, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I broke my ankle. I don't know if you can see, I still have all my scars on my legs and stuff.
[00:33:36] Oh God. From, you know, from all that. And so, 
[00:33:40] Blake: yeah, especially at that level, I mean, you're just falling. I mean, you learn how to fall, which is good. Right. But like, I mean, one thing goes wrong, a snap of an ankle or something that would just be extremely detrimental to 
[00:33:51] Nate: to what you do now. Exactly. Yeah. And I'm also a bit older and so, you know, falling hurts a little bit more.
[00:33:58] you notice? I've like, 
[00:33:59] Blake: I try to fall every now and then though, that's something I've realized. I was like, I was mII have. Fallen in a while. I think that's a problem, you know, I'm gonna get, get, I'm gonna get old. 
[00:34:07] Nate: Yeah, it does hurt more. It's funny. Yeah. I don't know 
[00:34:09] Blake: what that is. Yeah. Nah, that's cool.
[00:34:12] Run, run, out and hit kickflips or something every now and then, and yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool man. So how do, how does what you do now, I guess at private equity and, and driving a race car, how do they bleed into each other? Have you seen weird ways where, oh yeah, no, totally ones like 
[00:34:27] Nate: inform the other, so, yeah, cause I was, I was saying earlier, it's like, Hey, draw, you know, best practices from, from over here over there, they don't seem to necessarily mix together like private equity and racing mm-hmm but they really do.
[00:34:39] So, you know, from private equity to. Racing on that side, just being able to you know, understand how businesses work. Right. Yeah. And understand who the key, like decision makers are, helps me a target, you know, potential partner opportunities. Yeah. And then delivering like, Hey, this is how I'm gonna deliver you value.
[00:34:57] Right. Because I am a numbers guy. Right. Sure. And so I do outline and like, Hey. This is what this aspect of my program has. This is the value that it has. This is the value it has. And like, that's, I have like a whole like the end of like year review with each of my partners that I set up and I'm like, this is, this is how the year went.
[00:35:15] This is what, the value that I delivered. Here's what your investment was. Here's your return on investment? And I know. Basically nobody else does that no, I was about to say does, is that standard? No, no. Like they were like, all the partners that I sat down with last year were really impressed. And so that's been really useful.
[00:35:30] And then going from the racing side to the private equity side So, yeah. I mean like basically having to go out and cold call. Yeah. A potent partner was a big step in getting me comfortable with doing the same thing. Mm-hmm in the private equity world, because again, in the private equity world, I'm in this like spot where I need to get away from being just.
[00:35:48] The junior person and to try to transition more to the senior person, but it's two different roles, right? Yeah. Being the Excel guru, which, yeah. Okay. That's great. That has value. But like the bigger value is being the person that can communicate industry expertise, source deals, and then lead and execute them.
[00:36:05] Sure. So, sure. And it's not an easy jump and a lot of people can't make that jump. Right. And so it's, it's 
[00:36:11] Blake: difficult. Yeah. No, I would imagine that would be difficult, but that's pretty neat to see that you're. Well, I, if you, if you look deeply enough, I just believe everything bleeds into everything it does, you know?
[00:36:21] And yeah, I just think 
[00:36:23] Nate: that's pretty neat. The fun thing about, you know, this stuff is my DJ career, which is how I funded rag, in college because it was a DJ and a bartender. That's so cool. I wanna hear more about that. what you say. Yeah, but I was gonna say the way that bleeds into the racing stuff is I do this halftime show where I, I still, like, I make mixes and I like hit the play button, but then I get on the microphone and I do this activation where it's a mix of interviewing other drivers.
[00:36:46] Yeah. Throwing like giveaway shirts on behalf. Like buddy club and GT radio and Holly, and then I also like interactive games with the audience. What, yeah, that's what, like what so we have like a water bottle chugging challenge. You could like, I, especially when it's hot like we're going to St.
[00:37:05] Louis next week, last year is 105, three days in a row. So water bottle challenge. And then we have tire stacking games where they have to like roll tires, like around like a tire and back. And then. What else do we have? Yeah, those are like, kind of the main games. Yeah. But the idea is like, Hey, I mean, like throwing t-shirts is great.
[00:37:22] And I copy the idea from Begetten Jr. Who's a mentor to me. And, but his show, it doesn't have a stage. It kind of has just like some tossing of stuff. Mm-hmm was like, well, let me bring in like my production knowledge from being a DJ. Yeah. And like apply this to this and just make it way bigger.
[00:37:41] And totally that's what, like it started last year is just asking a few trivia questions and kind of like doing that because it's also a great way to. Partners. Right. I can ask, Hey, for a mega life battery, what's the difference between O lithium-ion battery and a lead acid battery. And so they get value there, but then to entertain the audience, I also ask like, who's what car did Dom drive in fast and the furious one or something like that?
[00:38:03] Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's a, you have to be like organic and mix in partners, stuff with the, with you know, organic questions, but then the audience participation thing was like, you know, if people really want. Yeah. They're here to watch the show, which is the driving. But I think everyone like me, like myself, when I was 13, I wanted to be a participant.
[00:38:22] Yeah, of course. And so of course I was like, this is gonna be so much better if I just, if I just stop asking questions and like get people to play games and it's yeah, it's really fun. We, we did a, a push up challenge in Orlando. got like five guys. Oh, that's just go like, ah, it was really hot. I was. Yeah, let's do it for a minute.
[00:38:39] And then yeah, it was it was tough, but that's, they, they made it through and it's just, that's a lot of fun. So 
[00:38:44] Blake: man, that is so cool. So doing DJing, you're like you learn how to rile up Ari up a club. Exactly. And, and get people, get people hyped up. That's awesome. 
[00:38:52] Nate: Yeah. And it's, yeah, it's a really fun show.
[00:38:54] Runs about half an hour. And again, that's half an hour. Value delivered to partners, right? Yeah, absolutely. And nobody, there's only the guy that I stole the idea from, but then made it my own. He's like the only other one doing it. And there are a few others that, you know, maybe they'll like rev their car up and throw a few stickers, but it's like, you know, I want to wanna make it a show.
[00:39:13] Right. Yeah. And that has like a schedule. Has a flow and everything else. It's not just kind of some hobble-together thing thrown together at the last minute. And at the end of the day, it is a 
[00:39:22] Blake: performance. Exactly. So, yeah. Yeah. That's really cool. Getting everybody super engaged and, and fired up.
[00:39:29] That's gotta be great for like, I don't know, your social media and all, I mean, all that there's. There are so many little things to think about when it 
[00:39:35] Nate: comes to doing this stuff. I feel like exactly. So, yeah. I mean, look, I've loved performing in front of people from DJing. I think that's where I got comfortable with it.
[00:39:44] Yeah, because the first, first time I DJ'ed, it was for a team owner that I. I was a videographer for sure. This, I was like 19 or 20. I wasn't even old enough to like, be able to get into the club. It was funny. It was like, yeah, let's just leave your ID in there. And just like walk past the, the bouncer, whatever.
[00:39:59] And it was like, I'm the DJ or whatever. And it was it was a nervewracking, like hour of me opening for this guy that I work for. Yeah. Club on new year's Eve in DC. And it was really cool, but I mean, it was like, oh my God, I'm so nervous. And then as I did it more and more, I just got more, more comfortable.
[00:40:19] And then just, it's so much fun to have the crowd, like on your side, you know what I mean? Seriously, the secret that I have is like, yeah, you just gotta throw like throwbacks in with. With new stuff. So like the throwback, you know, like gold Digger by Kanye west. Oh my God. As soon as that acapella comes in, shoot dig.
[00:40:36] Yeah. I can't, I can't sing, so I'm not gonna try it or I did, but yeah. Anyway, you just hear the crowd, just go nuts, nuts for it. And it's just so much fun and it's so infectious and like that's kind of that same energy applies to when. I'm like, where am I gonna throw a t-shirt? Is it gonna be straight?
[00:40:50] Like, whoa or is it gonna be left? Woo, right. Like, yeah. Yeah. That's so much fun. So it's it just get energy from, from the audience and you just you're in the moment. It's like, it's a whole different persona too. Yeah. Cause thera e's race car, Nate that just wants to kill anything in front of him. And then there's like DJ, you know, Nate, that's just like trying to have fun and.
[00:41:09] Vibe off the audience, you know what I mean? So that's super, super neat. 
[00:41:12] Blake: I would have so much fun doing that. I feel like shooting out. I've always wanted, it's been a dream of mine to shoot a t-shirt cannon. Oh, I did 
[00:41:18] Nate: never done one before, but yeah, I I, that was part of the show too, but. I handed it to the t-shirt can to somebody else.
[00:41:25] So, well, it's not really, it wasn't supposed to be a t-shirt can. Yeah, it was from my DJ days, but it was a CO2 cannon. Oh really? Yeah. Oh, those are sick. So t-shirt cannons have regulators, this one doesn't so it just like shot up a hundred feet in the air. Yeah. So when I, when I did it, I always just pointed it straight up, cuz it would just shoot straight up, and then it wouldn't go very far.
[00:41:44] And I let another driver. I was like, yeah, why don't you like, shoot it? And then he like pointed it, you know, over. Yeah. Like he didn't point it straight up and it like shot a hundred feet into another vendor's booth and they got really mad. And then. And then so I'm not allowed to use that anymore, unfortunately, but it's, that was, yeah.
[00:42:02] The crowd loved that. They were just like, whoa, they're like, that's insane. Oh my gosh. It's like, well, yeah, Pretty neat 
[00:42:07] Blake: to awe inspire a whole crowd of people. So something else I was thinking about growing up as a kid, I, I actually lived in Brazil for a little bit, and I remember late at night there would be cars just like drifting down the road.
[00:42:21] And I was just like, I blew my mind. And then in Atlanta now there are tons of people who like to occupy parking lots and do things like that. What's yeah. What's your, what's your take on, on some of that stuff? I mean, 
[00:42:33] Nate: yeah, no, honestly, not really a fan because it portrays my motor sport that I've dedicated.
[00:42:38] Significant chunk of my life. Yeah. In a really negative manner. Right. Yeah. And so I've never done any of that type of stuff. I've always kept it on track because honestly, that's also where it separates the talent. Yeah. Any I can teach, if we, I can show, I can teach you donuts in this, in like two seconds.
[00:42:54] Yeah. It's E yeah. It doesn't that there's no skill involved. Right. I've I have taught people who Don't know how to drive, stick or do donuts. Yeah. But when we're going 80 to a hundred miles, an hour sideways and there's little margin of error, you know, that's where the skill set list is. And that's like so much more entertaining to watch than somebody doing some donuts in a parking lot.
[00:43:13] But yeah, I mean, it's unfortunate, like that's happened, but on the positive side of things for like, for racing as a whole, the Netflix series drive to survive has been huge. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because it portrays the drivers as like these, you know, it actually has very little to do with racing. It's just more about the personalities behind the drivers and the teams and how they all interact.
[00:43:35] And it's also like, I've talked to so many people that have like no background in, in racing at all. Yeah. But they're like, oh, you're like basically informing the one driver and I'm like, yeah, basically. . Yeah. I mean, cause totally it's like a, like rather be associated with that than like, oh, you're like.
[00:43:48] Guy that does the street stuff like, no, definitely not. That is not at all what I do. And also in this country, there's, you know, there's another big sport. The biggest sport in the country for racing. It just, unfortunately, hasn't really attracted the entire country. It's more of a specific segment and that also isn't really a positive thing, but this yeah, the Netflix stuff has done that stuff.
[00:44:08] Great job. Pretty amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Just again, making it more relatable. Totally. That's all. That's all I want, right. Is because, Hey, I'm like a normal person just like you. Right. And like, I just want to share what I love and I'm passionate about with as many people as possible. Yeah. And 
[00:44:23] Blake: I hope you don't mind me asking.
[00:44:24] I was just kind of curious as like a novice, I was like, how do people 
[00:44:27] Nate: think about it? I 
[00:44:28] Blake: was like, I don't know, you know, with with some of that stuff that's going on out there, cuz like I'm like man, it's I think the other part of it too is outside of like the harmful. You know, associating drivers with what's going on over there.
[00:44:41] I think the big thing too is just the danger aspect of it. You know? Like it seems like people are, are in a position where, you know, all kinds of stuff could go wrong and it's just a bunch of novices out there. Exactly. 
[00:44:51] Nate: Doing their things. No, it's scary. It's like, I, I don't know why. I mean, I don't, I guess I kind of, no, I really don't understand it.
[00:44:58] Yeah. Because from my perspective, I'm wearing a fire suit, a helmet gloves, like this roll cage. Six point harness and it's, you know, it's really safe. Can go wrong, safe. It's really safe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then that the stuff that they're doing there, I mean, it's just like, not even contemplate because they're like trying to Dodge the car, like, oh, it's just like a stupid game.
[00:45:17] Like, how are you gonna win that game? I guess like, , I can see how you're gonna lose, but but yeah, I mean, that's why I also just try to steer people away. It's like, Hey, like this isn't, there's no competition there. What I do is competitive. Right. Absolutely. And so that's a big differentiator in the speeds that we're going.
[00:45:32] You know, again, everything. On the professional side of things is just very, very different. Yeah. And it's really annoying how the media just portrays it. Oh, they're drift, drift, racing in the streets and it's like, it's not the same adult. Not even close. Yeah. It's just like saying, oh yeah. Like I went for a walk today and then tomorrow I'm gonna go run a triathlon or something.
[00:45:52] You's like, yeah. 
[00:45:54] Blake: You're, that's a good, no, that's a good way to put it. That's a really 
[00:45:56] Nate: good way to put it. You're doing the same motion, but it's very, very different. Yeah. 
[00:45:59] Blake: Extremely different. Yeah. Extremely different. Man, I think that's yeah, that's something I'm like, I definitely get freaked out around seeing that kind of stuff.
[00:46:07] So for you, you've dedicated your entire life to this craft. Like when did you start getting to a point where you're like, man, I think I. I think I've got something going here. Like, I think I've found a little success in this right now. Did you, did you, was there any, any memory that you have of, of hitting 
[00:46:21] Nate: that, that moment in your life?
[00:46:22] You know, I think it was when I won the us strip shoot out in 2020. That was when I won my pro license. And it, that was again, that was like one of the best feelings in the world, because it was something that I had worked towards again, since I was 13. Yeah. And never had the budget to have a competitive car like this.
[00:46:39] Always using this car where I would, you know, I'd finish in the top half, but sure. It just didn't have the power and the technology to really do much more beyond that. And then in 2020, this, this car right here, this is what I won my ProAm or my pro license in it was finished. Two weeks before the pandemic.
[00:46:56] And we had one test day and then the pandemic happened. And then I was like, all right, well, I've been waiting for this all my life. I'm not gonna let the pandemic stop. Yeah. Like progress on this because with a new car, you have so many bugs to work out. It's. I mean, we basically strip this thing down, completely down to bare bear shells that you see over there.
[00:47:15] And you re-engineered a car from the ground up, man. And. So again, once you re-engineer a car, without testing, there's just a lot of stuff that you have to work through in issues and bugs. So I tested in Englishtown New Jersey, every other weekend from the very beginning of the pandemic when everything was shut down.
[00:47:31] But you were allowed to, as long as you were in a group of 10 people or less, and we were, and so it was safe and social distance, I mean, it was outside. Yeah. Right. So it wasn't really a risk. Yeah. Or there was, you know, some risk. As an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to take some risks, right?
[00:47:44] Absolutely. Absolutely. So yeah, we tested it all throughout that year. We blew up a motor, we got the car back together and then in October, this shootout event happened, which back then it wasn't even clear that wasn't gonna happen because of restrictions and all this other stuff, but ended up happening.
[00:48:00] And I went undefeated one, my pro license. And like, I remember doing victory burnouts, like celebrating. It was just amazing. Oh my God, the crowd was, I jumped on the fence. Climbed it. I like. Yeah, it was so much fun. And so that was just, yeah. I mean, like, I definitely like teared up a bit, like after, like, not that night, but like a few days after I was like, wow, this is literally everything I've worked towards my entire life and it happened and like, I didn't, I didn't know.
[00:48:26] Like, I didn't think, I mean, I, you know, like you, you have these goals, but you don't know if they're actually gonna work out or not. And yeah. 
[00:48:32] Blake: And I was like, wow, that's such a special moment. I would be like, I'm sure you're overwhelmed. Yeah. Reflecting on it, you know? And it just pours and more into the tank too, to get to go, go, go again for the next 
[00:48:43] Nate: big goal.
[00:48:43] But yeah. And it wasn't just me again, there are so many other people involved and it's like, without my team, especially now without Jerry, yeah, there by my side, like this car, like. It wouldn't be, I would be driving a car that had no engine in it. , Do you know what I mean? Or something like that. So it's really a team effort too, you know, it's not, not all just me, but for just for a personal standpoint, it, it was just a really fulfilling moment.
[00:49:04] Absolutely. 
[00:49:05] Blake: So what would you tell any advice to somebody trying to go down a vaguely similar road that you're going down? Any, anything that you could possibly pass 
[00:49:13] Nate: their way? Yeah, no, like, I mean, I, I think a lot of the same process that I. Kind of come up with and yeah. And went and executed any goal of learning a new skill.
[00:49:22] It's just been, Hey, what's the vision that you have. What are the steps that you can take and break down so that it's not overwhelming? Sure. But just like one focus on one thing at a time, realize Rome wasn't built in a day mm-hmm and just keep working, keep working, keep working. And then generally things will work out.
[00:49:38] Yeah. As long as your logic is sound and you know, you're checking like, Hey, does this actually make sense? Like, oh, I wanna be a race car driver. The circumstances aren't gonna allow me to make that happen. Well, then how do you make the circumstances change? Yeah. And so, yeah, that's like just don't give up and always focus on the execution portion and it's tough.
[00:49:57] Absolutely. But like, you know, distractions can come and, you know, Hey, you want to, you, do you really need to sleep that extra hour? Or can you stay up working? Right. Mm-hmm like, that's the question? And then. Again, the rewards and like opportunities are just amazing. Like, I never really wanted a normal desk job or whatever, like that.
[00:50:16] Sure. Even a nine to five, like I experienced that in an internship and I just didn't like looking at the clock at like four 30 being like, all right, when do I get to go home? Because that's just like, not fun. Like, even though my private equity career is definitely longer hours than nine to five, I really.
[00:50:31] Being able to, okay. I'm just gonna like stop working when I'm finished with work today. Yeah. You know, I don't know what time that's gonna be, but it's gonna be roughly like this time to this time, but yeah. You know, it's kind of nice to not have a set schedule. Well, it's like at 
[00:50:44] Blake: the end of the day, we probably know what we need to do.
[00:50:47] So yeah. You know, living in this routine, I, it, it's cool that you found a way to break out of that and just be like, I'm just gonna do what I need to do to get the job done. 
[00:50:54] Exactly. 
[00:50:55] Nate: Yeah. It's funny. I'm like a, 
[00:50:57] Blake: a David Goggins nerd. That was my thing. I got obsessed with for a little bit, if you've ever looked at his stuff and he was, he said I'm not you know, I'm not done when I'm tired.
[00:51:05] I'm done when I'm done. Exactly. You know, and I was like, you know, I'm like, it sounds so simple, but it's like, yeah, it's true. You know? Pretty, pretty amazing. So what's your favorite part of what all this right now, do you have something that is bringing you the most passion and also long term, are you gonna, are you trying to go like.
[00:51:22] Full-time full-time driving or do, are you just like, is this kind of 
[00:51:26] Nate: the model for, for so like, yeah, to answer your first question, favorite part is, you know, again, just when everything works out, whether that's my private equity career. Yeah. Like seeing, seeing what you've worked towards coming together and going in the direction you want it to go.
[00:51:39] And that applies to race car, obviously when you're like our first event this year, it was formula drift Orlando and one, our top 32 battle. Then one, our top 16 battle mm-hmm and made it to the grade eight and last year didn't make it that far. And so like that felt awesome. I was like, wow. Like, and especially all the stuff that happened, there was power steering pump failed.
[00:51:59] We had to call our five-time, minutes or five. Yeah. The car caught on fire between the first and second lap. And I was like, but I still drove. The best that I could, and I got the win on that paddle. And so it wasn't just, oh yeah, just hop in the car and go, there was like so many like random issues to fight through, but man, so like that was really cool.
[00:52:15] In terms of like long term career, I think the private equity stuff and also the racing stuff that are forever be intertwined. Sure. I mean, it's just, I like both worlds for their own reasons. Yeah. And it's really cool to be a part of. 
[00:52:27] Blake: That's amazing. Well, Hey, thank you so much for hopping on this. I, I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.
[00:52:33] This gave me so much inspiration. I know our audience is gonna love it as well. Is there anything you wanna plug in right now? I've got, I know we've got your Instagram and all of your different socials, anything at all that you wanna, people should be looking out for 
[00:52:44] Nate: Nate? Yeah, no, I mean just wanted to say well, thanks Blake for having me really appreciate it.
[00:52:48] Great to meet you, man. Yeah. And then obviously Jerry Yang for letting. Have this podcast in his, in his garage, and then IMB partners committed service brand buddy club. Feel free to check all those guys out. Just DMing me if you ever need parts, happy to hook you up with the discount. Awesome.
[00:53:04] But again it's been a wild ride and wants to continue, in every aspect of my life. Right. So, absolutely. 
[00:53:11] Blake: Well, Hey, thank you again. Yeah, and everybody, this was The GEM Series.
[00:53:20] Blake: Thank you for joining us on this episode of the GEM series, the podcast for anybody dedicated to investing in themselves. If you'd like to see the resources mentioned in this episode, learn more about what we are up to at a rocket level, or come over and join our team. Just click on the links below until next time.
[00:53:35] This is Blake Chapman, and remember to be awesome and do awesome things.